What's Ingrid Michaelson been up to, then?

Pop's very own Tina Fey, Ingrid Michaelson, shoved her new album Lights Out onto iTunes last night, and instantly jumped to number 2 in the US chart. Simultaneously, she also uploaded the entire record to YouTube, which is pretty generous for an artist who releases all of her music independently. I say generous. I might mean foolhardy. It's hard to tell.

In the US they categorise Ingrid as "adult contemporary", which is a backhanded way of saying "boring". But that's grossly unfair. She makes smart, literate, catchy pop - and, while she's been guilty of overdoing the ukulele in the past - Lights Out is her most adventurous album to date.

Critics have deployed words like "experimental" and "fierce" and, almost inevitably, "Kate Bush" (she's a woman, you see). And they're not wrong. Everything about this record obliterates the memory of her garishly twee self-help anthem Be OK.

Here's why...

Ingrid tragically lost her voice during the recording process last year. "My whole throat was on fire for a few months," she told The Beacham. "I don't think I've lost part of my voice, but my voice has somewhat changed."

More importantly, the fear of not being able to sing pushed Ingrid's writing down some darker paths. Take, for example, the haunting, spine-tingling Handsome Hands. It's the sound of Bjork singing to us from the afterlife.

Ingrid Michaelson - Lights Out

Also worth a look is the video for lead single, Girls Chase Boys, in which Ingrid takes Robert Palmer's famous(ly sexist) video for Addicted To Love and flips the gender roles. The song's not bad, either.

Ingrid Michaelson - Girls Chase Boys

Lights Out isn't appearing on the UK iTunes yet, but you can order the CD off Amazon today, or just put that YouTube playlist on repeat.

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Review: Ingrid Michaelson at Union Chapel

If you're in the middle of an all-consuming crush, Ingrid Michaelson's The Way I Am is the perfect song for you. Over a gummy double bass, the singer blushes her way through silly sentiments like, "I love the way you say 'good morning'". It's a miracle the song doesn't end with someone going "no you hang up first".

Released in 2008, The Way I Am was used in an advert for Old Navy clothing (there's a lyric about sweaters) and made the singer famous in the States. OK not exactly famous famous: Michaelson describes her status as "somewhere between Lady Gaga and the girl who hosts the open mic night at the coffee house".

But the song has taken on a life of it's own and, for years, fans excitedly approached the US singer to inform her The Way I Am was their wedding song.

And so she grew to hate it.

"What I began to hear was, 'we're getting married and you're going to die alone and your cats will eat your corpse,'" she deadpans.

Thankfully, Michaelson got married last year (to fellow musician Greg Laswell) and The Way I Am has been resurrected. It formed a central part of her warm-hearted set at London's Union Chapel last night. Cute, self-deprecating anecdotes like the one above peppered the show, in which Michaelson was backed by just two musicians - Allie Moss and Bess Rogers - whose harmonies were as heavenly as the setting.

On records, the singer (who refuses to sign to a major label) has often been suffocated by pillowy production, but in this environment she shone. Even the ridiculously twee psychobabble of Be OK sounded fresh and energised. During Ghost, Michaelson's vocals sounded more broken and desolate than ever before. "When I first played this to my mom," the singer recalled, "she asked if I was ok". You could see why.

The audience loved this stripped-back, exposed approach. There was even a genuine "we want more" encore - during which Michaelson played Elvis's Can't Help Falling In Love, inviting the crowd to sing the hook. Like the rest of the gig, it was generous, inclusive and full of quirky charm.

I'm pretty certain a few people stumbled into the bitter night with a Ready Brek glow.

Ingrid Michaelson - You And I (live via shakycam at Union Chapel)

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Ingrid Michaelson takes Parachute back from Cheryl Cole

Earlier this year, New York musician Ingrid Michaelson reflected on the fact that Cheryl Cole had scored a top five hit with a song she wrote.

"I knew that song would be a smash," she told the BBC in April. "I just didn't think I could pull it off.

"I'm so happy that Ms Cole is having success with it."

Fast forward to December and Michaelson has had a change of heart and released her own version of Parachute. Keeping true to her indie roots, its a more idiosyncratic take than Cheryl's, crammed full of percussive backing vocals and flanged harmonium chords. The result is more upbeat than the version you're used to - but I kind of miss the military drumbeats and mopey vocals.

Ingrid Michaelson - Parachute

If you're a regular watcher of American Idol, you might also be familiar with Michaelson's signature song, The Way I Am. It was performed at several stages of last year's competition, despite being relatively unknown. I've championed it several times on the blog, and I'm certainly not going to pass up the opportunity to ebmed it again...

Ingrid Michaelson - The Way I Am

There's plenty more Ingrid info on her official website.

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"Interesting" Cheryl Cole factoid

The stand-out track on Cheryl Cole's forthcoming debut album is Parachute, a quirky pop timebomb full of stuttering hooks and a riveting military drum beat. According to Cheryl herself, it was originally slated to be the first single.

A lot of reviews have called this song a "true find", as it was composed by two previously unknown writers. But, says the enigmatic "Q" on the Popjustice Forums, the chief brain behind the track was Ingrid Michaelson.

Now wait just a cotton-picking minute: We know exactly who Ingrid Michaelson is - and we LOVE her!! Her 2007 single The Way I Am is one of the best love songs of the last decade. Her album, Girls And Boys, was the record Sara Bareilles and Gabriella Climi could have released if they'd remembered to write a decent song after the first single. What Ingrid has is the rare and beautiful ability to write happy songs that don't make you want to throw up in the sink.

Have a listen to The Way I Am, then tell us you wouldn't have liked to hear her write Cheryl's entire album.

Ingrid Michaelson - The Way I Am


PS: If you like this, and you like Parachute, promise to buy Ingrid's album for us. It's awesome.

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Lovely Ingrid Michaelson is lovely

Amidst all the terrible editing and self-concious pieces to camera, this video contains two very sweet acoustic performances by the perennially lovely Ingrid Michaelson.

Ingrid Michaelson - Unplugged on Hitradio Ö3

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Video: Ingrid Michaelson - Girls & Boys

Ingrid Michaelson's album was one of my favourite finds of 2008. Self-recorded, self-produced and self-released, it never managed to work its way into shops in the UK (although I think plans are afoot) but if you were disappointed by Sara Bareilles and Gabriella Cilmi's debuts, this is the record you were looking for all along.

If you're allergic to the sort of music they play at the end of Gray's Anatomy, however, this won't be your cup of tea. In fact, it'll be more like drinking razor blades through a bendy straw: Hard work and ultimately painful.

Michaelson's latest single is called Breakable, and the video serves the dual purpose of promoting the song and warning you against giving your still-beating heart to a street busker. Whether you like the song or not, I think we can all take something away from that.

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Credible Christmas songs pt II

If you like your singer-songwriters female and fragile, then you're in for a treat: Here are Ingrid Michaelson and Sara Bareilles performing their new duet Winter Song on US TV:

Ingrid Michaelson and Sara Bareilles - Winter Song


Poor Ingrid, she can't even afford a full-size guitar...

The song is from a compilation CD from hipster LA music venue Hotel Cafe, which also features Fiona Apple doing Frosty The Snowman (awesome) and Katy Perry slurring her way through White Christmas (excruciating).

Infuriatingly, it's not available in the UK. In fact, the copyright restrictions are so severe you can't even watch the cute Youtube animation that accompanies Winter Song if you're outside the US... Although you can see a really poor quality version of it on the People website.

I thought this was the season of sharing and goodwill to all men?

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Listen up!

Here's someone I hadn't heard of 'til literally five minutes ago - Ingrid Michaelson. In fact, I started writing this post half-way through watching her video, The Way I Am, on the youtubes.

It is simply scrummy - like Regina Spektor might sound in the final few moments before she drifts off to sleep. You will like it if you're a fan of Fiona Apple, Siobhan Donaghy or Imogen Heap.

You will also find yourself wondering: Whatever happened to Lisa Loeb, anyway?

Ingrid Michaelson - The Way I Am

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